‘No guns’ is the polite request from Starbucks

Wednesday 18 September 2013 12:00 BST

p80 LONDON, ENGLAND - OCTOBER 16: The signage on a branch of Starbucks Coffee on October 16, 2012 in London, England. It has been reveled that Starbucks, the world's second largest coffee chain, has paid no tax in the UK for the past three years despite sales exceeding 1 billion GBP. Since first trading in the UK in 1998 Starbucks has paid 8.6 million GBP in income tax with total sales of over 3 billion GBP in the same period. (Photo by Oli Scarff/Getty Images) Getty

The boss of Starbucks today entered the fray of the US gun debate — by “requesting” customers don’t bring weapons into the coffee chain’s branches.

Hours after 12 people were shot dead by a gunman in Washington, and in the wake of multiple mass shootings in the US, Starbucks’ founder and chief executive Howard Schultz took out adverts in American newspapers with an open letter to customers asking them to leave their guns at home. He stopped short of an outright ban on firearms, but told CNN that the coffee giant is making a request “through the lens of civility and respect.”

Starbucks has been at the centre of the US gun debate after a group of gun owners launched a Starbucks Appreciation Day, in which they gathered at branches with their firearms, in recognition of the chain’s policy of allowing weapons into its stores.